Suction cleaning means for loopers



Mar'ch 28, 1950 w. R. BENNETT, s R

sucTIoN CLEANING MEANS FOR LooPERs s 'sheets-sheet 2` Filed oct. 21, 194e ID s T T E N N E B R. M m L H. W

March 28, 1950 w R, BENNETT, SR 2,501,838

SUCTION CLEANING MEANS FOR LOOPERS Filed OG'. 2l, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 AL WILLIAM n. BENNETT, v FIG. 3m)

Patented Mar. 28, 195() SUCTION CLEANING MEANS FOR LOOPERS William R. Bennett, Sr., High Point, N. C., as-

signor of one-fourth to William H. Blizzard, one-fourth to William R. Bennett, Jr., and onefourth to Coel R. Thompson, all of High Point,

Application October 21, 1946, Serial No. 704,764

(Cl. 11B- 26) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to means for removing' the ravelled portions which are cut from a stocking in a looping machine during a looping operation.

In a conventional looper, there is a circular disc having a plurality of points thereon, and the two ravelled edges of a stocking, for example, at the toe of a stocking, are placed over these points a few loops from the edge of the fabric and as the disc revolves,v a cutting mechanism severs the raw edges from these two portions of the stocking and then the two edges held on the points are passed by a looping mechanism to seal or secure the two edges together, and iinish the same ready for processing in the finished form.

These loopers are equipped with a brush which rotates across the points and to pick the severed portions of the knitwork. off of the points, and clear of the machine. This tends to cause these cut portions to be piled up on the iioor adjacent the machine thus littering up the workroorn and giving rise to much lint and polluting the air and the operators walking over this lint mix it with dust and dirt, and this is circulated through the air and is breathed by the employees, thus creating a health hazard.

It is an object of this invention to provide a hood associated with th-ebru'sh which removes the cut portions from the points and having suction means associated with the hood, whereby as the brush removes the cut portions from the points, the suction means withdraws these cut portions and conducts them to a suitable perforated container where they are deposited While the air is allowed to pass out of the perforated container.

It is another object of this invention to provide suction means associated with a looper for removing the portions of the stocking severed by the knives of the looper prior to a looping operation.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a f looper, and showing the invention applied thereto with portions broken away for the sake oi clearness;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the structure as shown in Figure l, and looking from the lowerside of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detailed view of means for securing the hood or housing over the brush casing and taken along lines 3 3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional View taken along line 4-4 in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a view showing the application of the system to a looper.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral I indicates a stand of a conventional looper, which has an upwardly and laterally projecting arm Il, which supports a shaft l2, and

I. which, in turn, supports the main looping mechanism, which comprises, among other things, a stationary disc I3, and a, rotary dise I4, which rotary disc. i4 has a plurality of-loop points l5, extending radially therefrom onto which the two ravelled edges I6 and Il of a stocking are placed for shearing the ravelled edges from these two portions prior to a looping operation.

Mounted on the portion I3 is a bracket 20 having an arm 2l extending therefrom which supports a housing 22 in which is rotatably mounted a circular brush 23. This brush has its lower portion in wiping contact with the points i for wiping cut portions, or looper clips from the points. The bracket has rising upwardly therefrom a post 25 on which is oscillatably mounted a bell crank lever 26.

The bell crank lever 26 has a short leg to which is pivotally secured as at 21 a reciproeating rod 3B, which is driven by a conventional portion of the machine, to oscillate the bell crank 26. Bell crank 26 also has a longer leg, to which is pivoted as at 3l a pitman rod 32, which has its other end pivotally connected to a pin 33 on the brush wheel 23 for imparting rotation to the brush 23 which rotates in a clockwise manner as shown in Figure 2.

The bracket 2l] has extending therefrom an arm 35 which has pivotally secured in its free end an oscillating link 36. The oscillating member 36 is pivotally mounted on a pin 31 and is pressed downwardly by a compression spring 40. In the lower end of this member 36 is mounted a shearing knife 4|, which cooperates with a stationary shearing blade 42 mounted in a projecting portion 43 extending from bracket 35 3 and these two shearing blades cooperate with each other to shear the ravelled edges of the portions I6 and l1 of the stocking, down to the points, leaving loops on the points of both these portions I6 and I1.

The structure thus far described is conventional, and it is with this structure that the invention is adapted to be associated.

Associated with the housing 22 for the brush is a suction housing 55, which is cut out in an arcuate manner on one side thereof to t on top of the circular housing 22, and is secured in position by means of the housing 22 having rising therefrom a bolt 52 which penetrates the upper portion ofthe hood 50, and a set screw 53 confines the hood 50 on top of the housing 22 of the brush 23.

The housing 22 has a bottom portion 54 which has an arcuate surface which nts against the outer edge of the point carrying disc I4. It also has side wall portions 55 and 56 and an end wall portion and facing the knives and is cut away to provide an opening through which the bell crank 26 and bracket 35 project, and through which the cut ravelled edges of fabric portions I6 and l1 pass into the housing. The bottom 54 of the housing has an opening therein, to which is connected a funnel shaped member T, which has Welded or otherwise secured to its lower end by any suitable means, such as a clamp 58, a flexible pipe 59, which is led to a suitable suction blower fan 5D, and which has an output pipe 62 extending therefrom and which extends into a perforated container 63, which preferably has portions of its side walls and a bottom of solid material, and the remainder of wire mesh B4, so that the ravelling or looper clips that are removed from the points by the brush 23 and the suction pipe 59 will be deposited into this container while allowing the air to escape therefrom.

It is thus seen that I have provided means adapted to be associated with a conventional looping machine for removing the out ravelled edges or looper clips from the machine and depositing them into a suitable container, thus not only preventing these cut ravellings falling onto the fioor, but also cleaning the points and removing lint and other particles therefrom, which might not be removed by means of the rotary brush 23.

In the drawings and specifications there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are, employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claim.

-I claim:

In a looping machine having a, dial provided with a plurality of looper points onto which two ravelled edges of a hose are adapted to be placed for a looping operation, said looping machine having cutting means for cutting the ravelled edges of the hose while on said points, said machine having a rotary brush spaced from the cutting means for removing the cut sections from the points, said machine also having a housing partially surrounding the brush, a hood secured over said housing, said hood being substantially wider than said housing and having three side walls, a top and a bottom and being open on that side which is disposed next to the cutting means, one lateral face of said brush being exposed within said hood, a suction pipe leading from the boi'- tom of the hood below and to one side oi the exposed face of the brush and having suction means therein for creating a partial vacuum in the hood to cause air to flow through the open side Wall of the hood and to remove ravelled edges which have been cut from the sections and also to remove particles of ravelled edges which may be adhering to the rotary brush.

WILLIAM R. BENNETT, Sa.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 213,298 Parr Mar. 18, 1879 1,603,777 Keyser Oct. 19, 1926 2,082,738 Le Vesconte June l, 1937 

